


As Promised

by Sapphy



Series: The Joyce Byers Home for Wayward Teenagers [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Childhood Friends, Families of Choice, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Friendship, Gen, POV Child, Trans Character, Trans Child Character, Trans Male Character, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 09:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14713406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphy/pseuds/Sapphy
Summary: Holly knows most people don't have two families, but maybe she's just lucky.





	As Promised

**Author's Note:**

> One of the things I wanted to do with this series was show not only the characters from abusive homes healing, but also the ones from homes that fit most people's definitions of normal. To quote Dylan Thomas 'they fuck you up, your mum and dad' and I think all of us in the queer community understand that. Even the most loving and well meaning parents can still screw up, and still leave us with mental scars, and in this fic I wanted to show the Wheeler siblings growing and healing and learning that they can have more out of life than the relationships and behaviours they saw modelled by their parents.
> 
> I'd known from the beginning of this verse that there were going to be more children in Joyce and Hop's future, but I didn't set out to create Jay in this story. He showed up in Holly's narrative organically, and once he was there it was obvious to me that of course Kali would send kids to them that she thought needed better homes. She didn't used to believe in family at all, and now she believes in one (1) family
> 
> Warnings for discussion of a young trans kid having had tbh a fairly typical trans child with cis parents experience, especially for the 80s. The child is safe, happy and has their gender and pronouns respected throughout this fic though.

Holly is aware most people don’t have two families.

She has her mom and dad, and Mike and Nancy, and they’re her real family (El would say birth family).

But she’s also been spending time with Joyce and Hopper since she was old enough to be entrusted to her siblings’ care. And even once Nancy was at college and her mom sometimes hires a babysitter, it’s usually El or Max looking after her.

She likes it at Mama Joyce’s house. She likes how it smells like coffee and waffles. She likes that she’s allowed to play in the woods, so long as she’s not by herself, and no one worries about her getting dirty. She likes that she’s never ignored, always someone to talk to. She likes that people will always answer her questions properly, instead of saying ‘just because’ or stupid mom-things like that.

She doesn’t say any of that out loud. She doesn’t want Mama Joyce to think she doesn’t love her mom, and she doesn’t want her mom to know how much she loves Mama Joyce.

Most of all though, she loves that Jay lives there. Jay is her best friend in the whole world.

He used to live somewhere else, with his birth-family, but they were mean jerks who kept trying to make Jay wear dresses even though he told them he’s a boy. Then El’s sister found him, and said that he needed better parents, and brought him to Mama Joyce.

They only get to play together at Mama Joyce’s house. Her mom doesn’t like her playing with boys. When they were first friends, she’d suggested that Jay could dress up like a girl so that they could spend more time together, and Jay hadn’t talked to her for a whole week. It’s the longest they’ve ever gone without talking since they first met.

Eventually Max had explained to her about Jay’s old family being jerks who thought that Jay was a girl because he looked like one, even though he kept telling them different. Holly had felt really bad after that, because she doesn’t ever want Jay to think she’s mean like his birth parents were, but he’d forgiven her straight away when she said sorry, so that was okay.

They climb trees, and make up stories about going on adventures, and share everything, even homework. Jay doesn’t go to school yet, because he arrived at Mama Joyce’s house after school started for the year, but Mike and the others tutor him after school so he won't fall behind, and he always tries to help Holly, even when it’s stuff he doesn’t know yet.

Nancy doesn’t come home much anymore - she had a big argument with mom and dad and now she stays in New York nearly all the time. But she comes back for Holly’s 8th birthday.

Holly has a birthday party, and her mom invites her whole class, even Suzie who’s mean and pulls Holly’s hair and calls her names. They eat a pink cake with a doll stuck in it so it looks like a big puffy skirt, and play pass the parcel. It’s pretty fun, especially when she wins a little folding mirror playing musical chairs. Suzie takes her candy from the pinata though, so that kind sucks.

Her other party is better. The day after her birthday she goes to Mama Joyce’s house, and Mama Joyce says she can do anything she likes, and Nancy and Jonathan and Steve all play space adventures with her and Jay all day. And then when it’s nearly dark, Hopper builds a huge bonfire in the yard, and they get lawn chairs and sit around the fire. Hopper cooks sausages, and Nancy teaches her how to roast marshmallows so that they’re just the right amount burnt on the outside. Max brings her cassette player out and they listen to music, and talk, and sing along to the songs they know, and it’s the best party ever.

Holly falls asleep out there, holding Jay’s hand, listening to Nancy playing her guitar and singing something soft and sweet.

She wakes up tucked up on the sofa the next morning, with no memory of how she got there. When she struggles up, she finds El and Jay in the kitchen. El makes her waffles and Jay smiles at her extra wide, and Holly thinks that this is her favourite place to be in the world.

El says that they’ve got something important to tell her when everyone else is awake, so her and Jay doesn’t go out to the woods to play. They watch cartoons with El, and Holly shares the candy she got for her birthday with Jay, because they share everything.

Eventually Jonathan and Nancy and Steve come and join them, and then Will, and last of all Max. Her hair is sticking up, like a big frizzy red cloud. Holly thinks it looks pretty cool. Lucas and Dustin and Mike come over as well. Hopper and Joyce are at work, but it’s okay because Nancy and Jonathan and Steve are grown ups.

They wait till Transformers finishes, and then El sort of waves at the TV and it turns off all by itself and they all cram into the dining room with mugs of coffee and tea and juice for Holly and Jay. 

“We decided that eight was old enough,” Nancy says. “We didn’t want to tell you when you were still a baby, but you’re not a baby now. We don’t want to scare you, but you need to know about the Upsidedown.”

They all tell the story, passing it back and forth as different people add the bits they remember, and Holly and Jay listen with wide eyes. When Will starts talking about the doctors not believing him when he said there was something wrong, Jay takes her hand and holds it tight. It sort of hurts, but Holly’s glad all the same. It’s pretty scary, but she feels braver with Jay there too.

At the end of the story, Nancy says, “We don’t think it’s coming back. We don’t think you’re in danger. But it’s important that you know, so that if it ever comes back you know what to do. If you ever see something you think might be from the Upsidedown you call me, or Joyce or Hopper right away, you understand?”

Holly nods, and then thinks about it a bit and asks, “But how will I know? What if I’m wrong and I call you and then it’s not a monster at all?”

“Then I’ll be really glad that you’re safe,” Nancy says. She looks at Holly really hard, with her eyes all big and shiny and says, “I know mom and dad can be a bit rubbish sometimes, and they don’t listen, and they get cross if you bother them too much. But you and me we’re sisters, and that means you can always call me, okay? You’re never a bother to me. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, or if I’m busy - if you need me I’ll be there, you understand?”

Holly nods, then looks down at the table because she can feels her eyes getting wet and she doesn’t want everyone to think she’s a baby. But Jay just squeezes her hand, and Nancy come round and hugs her really tight, and Mike says “Wheeler solidarity” and hugs them both.

And then when they’re done, Steve says to Jay, “Same applies to you, squirt. You’re my brother now, and I’ve always got your back, no matter what.”

And Jay bursts into tears, no embarrassed snivelling like Holly but real big sobs, so then everyone hugs him, including Holly. It’s messy and kind of squishy to all be hugging at once, but it’s nice too.

When they all let go, Jay smiles at them all, bright in spite of his tears, and says “This is a real family, isn’t it? Like Kali promised.”

El grins at him, wide and bright, and says “Yes. Real family.”


End file.
